Jesus has many titles. We usually call Him the Savior, Lord, King, King of kings, Lord of lords, the Good Shepherd and many other names. But, one important title seldom used in the Contemporary Church is Jesus the Prophet.
Moses spoke to all Israel, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear" (Deuteronomy 18:15, NKJV).
In other words, Moses, the greatest of all hebrew prophets prophesied that the future generations of Israel would hear the voice of the Prophet whom God raised up from among the Jews. This Prophet is Jesus Christ.
In New Testament time Jesus is also the Prophet to Hebrew and Gentile Christians:
The writer of Hebrews said, "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds ...." (Hebrews 1:1, 2, emphasis added).
Notice that, in general, all truth or revelation is prophetic, pointing to some future event, happening or person. God speaks to us through His son by the Holy Spirit in "these last days" (New Testament time) concerning things to come.
The Prophetic Ministry of Jesus
The prophetic ministry of Jesus is manifested throughout the Gospels and other New Testament Scripture.
Here are some examples:
1. Jesus identified His betrayer, Judas Iscariot
Jesus said, "I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.' Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He" (John 13:18, 19, emphasis added).
Notice that the thing that sets apart Jesus as the Prophet is the ability to predict or foresee the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.
2. Jesus predicted Peter's denial
Jesus said to Peter, "Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times" (Matthew 26:34).
3. Jesus said to Ananias (in a vision) concerning His plan for Saul
"Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name's sake" (Acts 9:15).
The above verse describes the entire ministry of Paul which came to pass precisely!
The Prophetic Ministry of the Church
I believe the prophetic truth of the Bible is greatly neglected in many sections of the Church of Jesus Christ today.
Generally, the Church Universal is divided into two unequal sections. One is a small section that is tremendously concerned with prophecy and in many cases gone overboard and become extreme in implying or interpreting prophecies. They often make sensational predictions with fixing of dates. When one prediction fails they substitute the next. In a certain extent they undermine the confidence of Christians in the prophetic Word of God. This is very unfortunate. The result is the other section of the Chruch rejects prophecies alltogeter. They say the prophetic ministry has died with the 12 apostles.
A renowned pastor of the biggest Church in California (if not the biggest in the USA) was heard saying "biblical prophecy is a diversion" (Reference from "Prophecy Update Ministry).
Strangely, what some Churches believed is predicted by Peter:
"....scoffers will come in the last day, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation'" (2 Peter 3:3, 4).
The fact that people misuse something (gift of prophecy) that God has provided is no reason why we should not use it. Satan can cause almost any good gift of God to be discredited by its misuse. If the Church is deceived by this we are actually giving Satan the victory!
The Church needs Prophets
According to the apostle Paul the Church of Jesus Christ fails to mature, fails to "come to the unity of faith" and fails to become a "perfect man" because Christians have rejected some of the five-fold ministry gifts:
"And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, som evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, ..." (Ephesians 4:11 to 14, NKJV, emphasis added).
The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit (Ephesians 6:17). If w do not use the prophetic side of the sword of God's Word we have blunted one of the edges of the double-edged sword. This I believe is one of the reasons why a section of the Church has been defeated by false doctrine of deceitful and cunning men.
We must understand that prophecy is an integral part of the Bible. It is one of the great distinctive features of the Bible that separates it from any other religious books of the world. There is no true prophetic ministry in any religion of the world.
The Church needs to take heed of Prophetic truth
The New Testament teaches us emphatically to take heed of prophetic truth of God's Word.
Peter said, "We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased'. We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain. And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:16 to 19, NIV, emphasis added).
Peter emphasizes to the tremendous importance of prophecies in the last days:
Take note of the following:
1. Peter's theme is the coming of Jesus in power and great glory (Matt. 24:30). The Greek word for the coming of Jesus is "parousia" indicating the physical return of the Lord Jesus with His bride on the Day of God (Please read my previous posting).
2. Peter gives a preview of what would be like when Jesus comes back. He is referring to the experience of the transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17:1 to 9). Peter and two other disciples, James and John witnessed how Jesus "was transfigured before them, His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as light" (verse 2). This is what Jesus would be like when He comes in His glory. Peter says this is not a stroy made up by him.
3. The strongest single testimony is not what Peter, James and John saw as eyewitnesses but what the what the prophetic Word of God declares. The word of the prophets is made more certain because Peter has already seen the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the first coming of Jesus.
4. Christians who pay attention to this prophetic Word are not in darkness but like "a light shining in a dark place". If we continue to seek and heed the prophetic Word a day will come when "the day dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts".
Conclusion
Seeing all the signs of the times coming to pass the Church cannot afford to remain in darkness. We need to heed of the precious Prophetic Word of God - God's final Authority.
1 comment:
I like your initial observation that Jesus is a prophet - in fact we might as well say "The Prophet." I agree that most of us miss that, and my church heritage even yet, is part of that "section" of the church as you called it, that either disdains prophecy or just does not know what to do with it. As such a decendant, even I am not an authority on this aspect of biblical insight.
However, I note that not all biblical prophecy has to do with predicting the future. In fact, I figure the part of prophecy that predicts the future is relatively small in comparison to other styles/forms of prophecy. I do not mean to belittle future predictions, but merely to expand the territory of prophecy into its fullest.
I am mindful that Old Testament prophets often acted out prophecies, even those that predicted the future as well as some that merely explained the present in more theological terms. Ezekiel lays seige to a brick and Hosea marries a whore. My own term for this kind of prophetic behavior is "proph-o-drama." And in each case, whether predicting the future or otherwise, the larger concept that is unfolding is that of telling the story of Isreal.
Thus, I see telling the story of Israel (or of the people of God to be most specific) as a prophetic enterprise. Some tellings involve the future, others do not. Many of them, though not all, involve some sort of dramatization. Sometimes they are more like telling parables.
At any rate, then, the career of Jesus of Nazareth - His prophetic vocation - is to tell the story of Israel in ways that are often upsetting to Israel's leadership. Such as cleansing the Temple. This is a proph-o-drama depicting God's unhappiness with the affairs of the Temple as a "den of robbers" as opposed to being a "House of prayer..." at the least. If the future prediction element applies, we see that the Temple was destroyed by Rome in 66/70AD.
But all of this prophetic discovery in the career of Jesus ultimately drives us to see the proph-o-drama unfold in his arrest, crucifixion, and resurrection. This otherwise humble, poor, appearingly misguided peasant from the back country of Galilee comes to Jerusalem to be crowned as King. The prophet is acting out a coronation. How does Israel crown God as her King? According to the story Prophet Jesus is telling, it looks like an execution.
Unwittingly, the executioners, and vicariously those manipulaters that engineered the execution, have put a crown on his head, a robe over his shoulders, a sceptor in his hand and lifted Him up with a sign over His head declaring Him to be King of the Jews. This is the story of Israel, that by killing their God, they have crowned Him King.
I reckon this story also says a lot about the God of Israel. That He will not be thwarted, even when His people turn against Him.
At any rate, this also enhances the picture of Jesus as Prophet. There is sooooo much more that could be said, but this is just a comment, and I am not the expert to do the saying. But, I think you are on to something with your observation, and I want to put in my two bits as well.
Thanks for promoting Jesus and His Kingdom on the web. Many blessings... and Happy Holidays.
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